Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Much research was done in HFE to support new designs and many improvements were
implemented, such as a pilot's control stick which combined several control functions
and made it easier to handle the airplane and auxiliary combat functions (Wiener and
Nagel, 1988). As a result of these improvements and new pilot training programs, the
number of fatalities in pilot training decreased to 5% of what they had been previously.
Ever since this happened, much research in human factors has been sponsored by the
U.S. Department of Defense. Consequently, the information in human factors textbooks
is often more influenced by military than by civilian applications of ergonomics.
However, with the introduction of computers in the work place in the early 1980s this
situation has changed. The workplace has become as high tech as the military scenario,
and presently much more funding is channeled to solve these problems.
Several government agencies have sponsored research on civilian applications of HFE.
In the U.S. there are many examples: the Federal Highway Administration (design of
highways and road signs), NASA (human capabilities and limitations in space; design of
space stations), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (design of cars,
including crash worthiness and effects of drugs and alcohol on driving), the Department
of the Interior (ergonomics in underground mining), the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (safe design of consumer products), the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health (ergonomic injuries at work, industrial safety, work
stress), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (design requirements for nuclear power
plants), and the Federal Aviation Administration (aviation safety).
In the U.S., ergonomics applications in manufacturing are fairly recent. Eastman-
Kodak in Rochester, New York, was probably the first company to implement a
substantial program around 1965. Their approach is well documented in an excellent
topic (Eastman Kodak Company, 2004). At IBM Corporation, interest in manufacturing
ergonomics started around 1980. At that time IBM had many human factors experts, but
they worked on consumer product design, computers, and software systems. Most
manufacturing ergonomics was undertaken by industrial engineers and company nurses
(Helander and Burri, 1994).
As I have noted, human factors developed from military problems, and has its origin
in experimental psychology and systems engineering. During the last ten years there has
been an upsurge of interest in workplace ergonomics, and it seems that the two traditions
of human factors and ergonomics have fused. The name change of the Human Factors
Society in the USA to the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society is indicative of the
changing times.
Ergonomics and human factors have proliferated since the 1950s in Asia, Africa, Latin
America, and Australia (Luczak, 1995). In many industrially developing countries (IDCs)
ergonomic problems have manifested themselves, and have become more obvious in this
era of rapid industrialization. The fast transformation from a rural-agrarian to an urban-
industrialized life has come at a cost, and workers are “paying” in terms of a tremendous
increase of industrial injuries and increased stress at work. Many of these problems
remain hidden, because official statistics which can illuminate the true state of affairs are
usually not available. For example, workers in Asian countries do not like to complain
about ergonomics problems, which hence go unnoticed.
